Digital cameras are increasingly popular and technology advances have resulted in these cameras having the capability to capture video data as well as high resolution still images. A digital camera captures an image (e.g., a subject, scene, or view) in elemental portions and generates an electronic signal that is representative of the subject, scene, or view. Unlike conventional film cameras that use a photo-responsive film as the image capturing medium, digital cameras typically use one or more charge coupled device (CCD) integrated chips. The CCD chips are configured to receive light reflecting from the photographic subject and to convert the reflected light into a digital signal representative of the captured image.
Many of these digital cameras can operate in a first capture mode for capturing high resolution still images (e.g., typically 2.1 mega pixels or greater), and operate in a second capture mode for capturing low resolution video data (e.g., typically 0.3 mega pixels or less). Because of the two modes of operation, a user desiring to capture both video images and high resolution still images of a scene must switch modes, likely resulting in the shot being missed.
Two modes are utilized for a variety of reasons. In the second capture mode, the digital camera may be able to capture multiple still images per second (e.g., 30 frames per second), usually in a low resolution, which amounts to video data. Operating in the first capture mode, the digital camera can capture high resolution still images. Because of the high resolution, these still images cannot be processed at the rate of the video images captured in the second mode. Accordingly, different modes are used.